As we previously covered throughout the marketing campaign Nokia has thrown at us the past few weeks, the Lumia 800 is now available at retail stores (and for delivery through pre-ordering) in the UK and a handful of European countries. The handset, available in black, was greeted by queues of potential buyers outside retail stores across the UK.
The Lumia 800 is being carried by Orange, T-Mobile, Three and Vodafone (Phones4U & Carphonewarehouse, etc. too). O2 were in talks with Nokia to also stock the Windows Phone, but communications broke down with the companies not agreeing on strict criteria laid down by the manufacturer. After today, the next step in Nokia's plan for market domination is a free, public event in London on November 28th, which will see 4D projections being beamed onto the Millbank Tower with deadmau5 performing some numbers.
The above shot illustrates the service Nokia was running for those who were patiently awaiting their turn to get their hands on the new Windows Phone. Rightly so, the queues should be fairly large and sales should be relatively good, with the sheer scale of promotion Nokia has carried out being pretty massive. We had Nokia World, the introduction of the Arch in Stratford's Westfield shopping centre, and roof-hung display boards at Heathrow Airport being overtaken by the handset maker to name but a few.
2012 will prove to be an interesting year for the platform to say the least, but one thing is for sure - we're lucky to have Nokia dedicating all resources. Cyan and magenta choices will arrive later this month for the Lumia 800 (November 28th for magenta) and we expect (and hope) networks to begin pushing Windows Phone as well as Android and the iPhone in the near future.
Let us know in the comments if you went out to get one.
Image credit: Nokia, thanks TheWeeBearUK for the tip!
